Hakimullah Mehsud

MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - The Pakistani Taliban elected Mullah Fazlullah, the commander whose men shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai last year, as their new leader on Wednesday, dampening expectations of any peace deal between the insurgents and the government.

Pakistan is investigating reports that the leader of the Taliban in the country died from wounds sustained in mid-January in an airstrike carried out by a U.S. drone aircraft, Pakistani officials said Sunday.

File photo of Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud.(Xinhua/AFP File Photo) Local TV reports said earlier that the chief of the banned outfit Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Hakimullah Mehsud and three top commanders were among 12 killed Thursday morning in a U.S. airstrike hitting a compound in Pasalkot village of North Waziristan agency near the Afghan border.

A Pakistan television station showed on Saturday what it said was the suicide bomber double agent who killed CIA agents in Afghanistan sitting with the Pakistani Taliban leader, and reported he shared U.S. and Jordanian state secrets with militants.